Monster Blooms!

   Madonna Lilies are some of those ever-present things that grow wherever they please.  If any piece of soil is left unattended for a few months, wham!  Madonna Lilies are there.  This is understandable since each bloom makes a bajillion seeds and those seeds are so light that the wind carries them for miles.  Once they fall to the ground they are ready to go.  Needless to say, there are a lot of them here on the Bayou.  I do not even know how the first ones got here but once they took hold, they were here to stay.  I do know how they became so widespread, however, and I blame that on my kids when they were young.  The seed pods of the lilies are on long stems and when they burst open the seeds fly out with the slightest touch.  Imagine three kids chasing each other with the long stems while spewing seeds out like fairy dust.  Now there are lilies everywhere.

  Some of the current lilies have mutated to some strange things.  Instead of the 5 to 7 blooms that normally sit atop a 4 ft stalk, the stalks are now 10ft and hold some 20 to 30 blooms.  The stalks themselves have changed as instead of being rounded, they now flatten at the top to be almost fan-shaped.  Why?  Who knows.  They are adapting to whatever climate changes, I suppose.

  One such lily was in full bloom when it became top-heavy and snapped.  The huge stalk just could not support the massive amount of blooms during one of our recent thunderstorms.  Try as it might, it could not stand against the winds.  It saddened me to find the broken stalk this morning so I snipped it and brought the stalk inside.  Ha!  Instant bouquet!  Now the Little Bayou House is decorated with fresh flowers...albeit mutated blooms.